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Over on RMWeb, in response to an enquiry from Grahame Hedges, Dave Jones has written:-

"Unlike the class 92 in N and OO gauge, the cars have been an utter failure so far.

This may be down to the description of the models, but the overall premise, whilst being sound I thought, has been something that I'm now beginning to shy away from.

I'll leave it until after the next advert comes out in the press and see where we go from there."

I think the lack of response shows clearly to me, at least, that crowdfunding is not a launch and forget process. It needs constant nurturing. The unbelievably spectacular results from the two DJModels Class 92 projects shows how effective this can be, and both have detailed product lists with loco numbers and liveries, catalogue reference numbers. In contrast the "cars" just seem like a makeweight project and not even the vehicle marks have been specified. I decided not to commit to the "cars" without knowing as a minimum whether it was an HA, HB or HC Viva or a MkI, MII, MkIII Zephyr. I asked several times but no answer came forward. I do not see much hope of rescue for the project now unless the magazine publicity somehow has more precise product specifications than has been forthcoming here. Having 5 equally vague product numbers on the website is not an incentive to express an interest.

I am really disappointed that the project received so little attention from the proposer.

Were I a more cynical man I'd suggest the staggering popularity of the 92 is down to 'outside influences' more than pure sales volumes! Still a bit of a shame about the cars, but it did seem a bit of a lacklustre campaign as you say.

Not a problem so much as a function of how it works. I know with the 92 no one got any confirmations, despite Dave's assertions they should. I know I put in expressions for 2 (possibly 3, can't remember), but I have nothing to remind me; no email, no login credentials to check an order. I got one £30 invoice which says "n gauge 92", but I don't know if that's for one loco or two, and if it's one then which one?

I haven't paid because Ben and Mike are doing liveries I want more, but even taking that out of the equation I would be very reticent to purchase on the strength of this information. I don't quite know why Dave doesn't say "emails aren't working", and/or just fix them! I think he's making a rod for his own back by saying they're fine, meaning people simply think they've forgotten/the system hasn't worked and so 'order' again.

Inhave to agree woodbury. It wasn't an exemplary marketing exercise. Real shame as I'd have been happy to buy quite a few.

A couple of updates from the horse's mouth on this thread about where to place expressions of interest and any impending cut-off dates might have reminded those of us who don't follow every thread on RMweb...

I am afraid this whole situation seems to be getting worse every day. The issues around the receipt of an order is not just a little glitch with the sticking plaster solution if 'I will let you know'. At best it is an administrative nightmare, at worse it means you lose track of your orders and end up with a huge disparity in order numbers and are staring at a potential loss on a product you thought was a success. Admissions that order volumes are significantly wrong due to people not being notified of their order, therefore placing it again, only to cancel the duplicate when the issue is realised, will certainly not give us the confidence to place more orders.

Things are not looking too great at the moment. There was been no N gauge model delivered yet, none of the earlier models (Clayton, Baby Deltic and the 59 for example) are even at the point where prototype samples are being shown, the ordering process is not up to scratch, the eminently sensible plan to produce N gauge cars seems to have fallen flat, not to mention the rather unseemly post on RMweb about the 92. All this combined does not instill confidence in people who are promising large amounts of money in these ventures.

The 00 models by all accounts are excellent models, but DJM have not produced an N gauge motor for us to judge if this quality scales down.

At risk is the credibility of DJM, which seems to be being continuously undermined day by day. It can only be rescued with action, not promises. By that I do not mean clearing the decks to compete with Revolution on the 92, it means delivering those models promised a couple of years ago. Otherwise it is nothing more than empty promises and vapour-ware.

Couldn't agree more Claude, I have some serious misgivings about the whole thing. His website is very out of date, with Mermaids due in March and other n gauge models following at six-weekly intervals. As with so many of these things (for me) it's the basics that matter. Yes, I'm paying him to make model trains not provide a website and admin service, but when you can't even get things like that right it doesn't instill confidence in me to hand over significant sums of money, effectively on a promise. I'm surprised that so many people are confident to do so.

Had the 92 invoices been a little more polished, and not just a PayPal request for money, that would have instilled a little more confidence. Or indeed if something ostensibly easier to get to market, like packs of cars, had been rushed through.

Of course I hope I'm totally wrong, there's a (non Hanjin) container full of Mermaids on the high-seas and various other models and winging their way to their respective purchasers as we speak, but the whole 'crowdfunding' thing makes me a little twitchy in this instance.

Inhave to agree woodbury. It wasn't an exemplary marketing exercise. Real shame as I'd have been happy to buy quite a few.

A couple of updates from the horse's mouth on this thread about where to place expressions of interest and any impending cut-off dates might have reminded those of us who don't follow every thread on RMweb...

To be fair there was a question posted on the RMWeb thread saying "what's happening Dave?", to which he said "err, yeah, not a lot", the whole point being that he wasn't keeping anyone up to date, rather than he was focusing his attention on RMWeb. I think it's overly critical to be grumpy at someone for not using multiple forums. RMWeb has a significantly bigger membership base, and Dave is very active on there (not always a good thing!), I think you have to cut him a bit of slack myself. I never quite understand the apparent chip on the shoulder some people have about RMWeb.

I don't think that either the DJM or Oxford offerings really address what many people want anyway. Anyone running a rake of Carflats with ex-factory vehicles would require a batch of similar cars without registration numbers. A mixed offering is OK in other situations.

I am also one of those waiting for the Mermaids so hopefully before the end of the year?

I think it needs to be remembered Dave stated from the start that 00 gauge would be the first models from DJM, and that N gauge projects would be funded from sales of the 00 stuff.Well and good, but this news on RMWeb does not bode well for those of us waiting for any comments/reviews of N gauge. What I've seen from DJM in 00 looks pretty damned good, but I am glad my only commitment so far is to pre order a Baby Deltic so no money has been taken. I'm very disappointed the Mermaids are nowhere to be seen yet, especially as my only interest was in weathered versions which would be quite a while after the pristine ones.Methinks @DJM Dave needs to update us.

To be fair there was a question posted on the RMWeb thread saying "what's happening Dave?", to which he said "err, yeah, not a lot", the whole point being that he wasn't keeping anyone up to date, rather than he was focusing his attention on RMWeb. I think it's overly critical to be grumpy at someone for not using multiple forums. RMWeb has a significantly bigger membership base, and Dave is very active on there (not always a good thing!), I think you have to cut him a bit of slack myself. I never quite understand the apparent chip on the shoulder some people have about RMWeb.

No particular chip here, just I don't follow the model rail stuff there as there's not much N gauge (plenty of "real world" stuff of interest). If he's running a business it's up to him to ignore effective communication channels. Anyway I can't find any mention of the cars on his site so assume they're no longer on the plate.

But he isn't ignoring communication channels, he's not overly active on the forum you want him to be on. Dapol are using their own forum to canvas opinion and provide updates. They're not actively responding on other forums.

Still, NN's tagged him now, so perhaps we will get an update, but it's there on RMWeb that the cars have been an abject failure in terms of volumes, so it seems they're off the table.